Til Next Year

Gallery: WildlifePosted January 3, 201598 views3 comments

I decided to do an afternoon shoot today rather than early morning. I found lots of activity and a lot of deer. I found this an interesting grouping with bucks, does, and fawns all in the photo. As the rut seems winding down, I'm speculating a few of the bucks in the photo will take off to parts unknown and won't be back until fall and the next rut. How many deer? 22. There was quite a bit of negative space on the top and below, so I just cropped it out and made a pano style picture which I think shows the deer fairly well. I did quite a bit of tweaking to the photo to try and make it look natural instead of mostly influenced by the direct lighting. An increase in temp, contrast, clarity, and vibrance. I reduced highlights and whites because of the sun. How'd I do? Comments and critiques are welcomed.

Tech Info

Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f/4 at 70mm
1/80th at f/8 and ISO 200
tripod
Lightroom 5

Comments

3 comments

Comment posted by Catherine Reilly on January 3, 2015 at 4:14 AM

Processing looks just fine, here, Peter– very natural but still with plenty of afternoon glow. Just a thought: there's a deer backed into the right edge such that I might consider cropped in just past its nose. Otherwise it creates unpleasant tension in such a peaceful gathering in the field. I like the crop you chose.

Registered on August 16, 2006, 603 Posts, 9192 Comments

Comment posted by John Tobias on January 3, 2015 at 3:19 PM

Good one Peter. I like the pano format you have chosen for this image. Also a bit envious of so many subjects! Processing looks good to me. Thanks for sharing.

Registered on September 12, 2009, 2120 Posts, 6455 Comments

Comment posted by Peter Cross on January 3, 2015 at 8:45 PM

Thanks for the input. Catherine, I looked at the rt hand deer a lot. If any part had been cut off, it would have been cropped out. But it's all in so I decided to leave it in. I agree with your comment and future versions will see it gone. John; I was amazed at the count as well. And this is a 77mm view which is hardly a wide angle. I must say, though, that this is not a common happening, but fun to see nevertheless. Everyone seemed so peaceful Only a couple of young buck were doing a bit of sparring but you could see it was more of a play thing.

Registered on April 3, 2010, 271 Posts, 1342 Comments